Very nice to see Dead Man! One of my favorite movies of all time. For me, it's the perfect marriage between music and visuals. It works so perfectly together and creates such an incredible atmosphere. Cheers!
When you showed "Rumblefish", I reflexively gave a fist pump and cried "YES! BRILLIANT!!" Both the film and the soundtrack have been under the radar favorites of mine for 40 years. Stanard Ridgways off-Kilter voice with Copeland's drumming on Don't Box Me In are perfectly matched to the point that I can't imagine anyone else singing it. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou for showcasing it!
Thanks SO much for this. You mentioned two of my all-time faves: Rumble Fish and Wings of Desire. I think Rumble Fish is unquestionably one of Coppola's finest achievements - no kidding! I got to spend time with the sound designer on that film, Richard Beggs - when I was mixing my (black and white) film next to door to him - and he talked a lot about how carefully they melded his sound design with Copeland's brilliant score. That is a true audiophile record, BTW. (He had some amazing Apocalypse Now stories, as did the owner of the facility where we were working who was dating the Coppola's nanny back in the day, joined them all in the Philippines, then played one of the surfer dudes in the Robert Duvall sequence!!!). I've never seen the Wings of Desire soundtrack on vinyl before - I have it on CD. It is brilliant, so perfectly matched to the film which is maybe my favorite Wenders flick. As to other b&w films/scores... I have to mention Psycho, of course. The best version of the full score is on Varese Sarabande CD - well worth hunting down. It's better sounding than the full score on Unicorn LP conducted by Herrmann himself, though Herrmann's Suite from the film on Decca Phase 4 is phenomenal. Two other great Noir soundtracks are Elmer Bernstein's score for Sweet Smell of Success (directed by the ex-Ealing comedy director Alexander Mackendrick), and Henry Mancini's score for Orson Welles's Touch of Evil. Speaking of British comedies, the original 1954 Belles of St. Trinians has a brilliant score by Malcolm Arnold, extracts from which are available on an excellent Chandos CD. If you've never seen this film, I highly recommend....
Your thumbnail of Bruno Ganz in Wings of Desire caught my attention. I've seen that film at least half a dozen times since the year it was released until just a few months ago. Masterpiece.
I met Wim Wenders at the premiere after-party for "Buena Vista Social Club" (Melbourne 1999/2000). He was very charming & unpretentious. Apart from other subjects, I remember discussing one of his other great films "Paris Texas". (Probably also mentioning that in the 80's I had two cats, one called "Paris"...and the other "Texas"! Rumble Fish: "...a young Diane Lane". I think it was a "young everyone"?! "Manhattan" is the one for me , viewed on the 70mm compatible giant screen at the (jazz moderne art deco) Astor Theatre in St.Kilda. 👱🏻♀️♥️
Two things to contribute. Well, three… first being Deadman, Wings & Rumblefish are all excellent as films and soundtracks. Deadman was I gather done in the same way Miles did for Lift to the Scafold, live in front of the film. Second thing, Jarmusch and his Sqürl have recently been doing performance to Man Ray films in the same way. An album of this released recently on Sacred Bones. Third of three… The Lynch & Splet (1977) is the birth of industrial music and one of the most important original soundtracks ever produced. Another wonderful & inspiring video Mr Maz.
An interesting video Mazzy…gets me thinking about my son Cameron, who is currently in Denmark 🇩🇰 and will be in France 🇫🇷 next week for his work; he is a Movie fan of great knowledge already at his young age of 29yrs. I enjoy good Movies as well but cannot claim as much interest as you in any way, but, many of the artists you mentioned are favourites of mine. 👍
Thank you for sharing those. My favorite black and white films… wow. Well… Stardust Memories, Manhattan (probably my favorite movie) and Broadway Danny Rose (Woody Allen). Young Frankenstein. La Heine. Dead Man. The Apartment. Les Croix de Bois (1932, Raymond Bernard). Oh, and Clerks.
"Carnival of Souls" - Music by Gene Moore - Directed by Herk Harvey - 1962 "Double Indemnity" - Music by Miklos Rozsa - Directed by Billy Wilder - 1944 "Down By Law" - Music by Tom Waits/various - Directed by Jim Jarmusch - 1986 "Night of the Hunter" - Music by Walter Schumann - Directed by Charles Laughton - 1955 "Night & The City" - Music by Lionel Newman Directed by Jules Dassin - 1950 "Pickup on South Street" - Music by Lionel Newman - Directed by Samuel Fuller - 1953
It’s fun to discuss black & white film and stills. From ‘72 thru ‘74, that’s all I shot. Black & white 35mm w/SLR Pentax. Black & white provided great atmosphere for pictures near the Berlin Wall. 👍🏼 Thanks for talking about a somewhat forgotten photography tool.
I dig your list, it marries up to my own personal very much so. Dead Man and Wings are in my (ever changing) top 25 of all time. Another great black and white film is the original Wages of Fear.
Rumblefish, has been my all time favorite movie since the first time I saw it. The cast is outstanding, but Rourke as The Motorcycle Boy takes the cake. One of my fav lines, “even the most primitive societies have an innate respect for the insane.” Copeland’s soundtrack is brilliant. Don’t forget the beta fish were in color too. 😊
Had no idea! Thanks Mazzy, we’ve never seen “Rumble Fish” for whatever reason. It sounds like something we could sink our teeth into. Besides, huge Mickey Rourke!🎧🍿🥤
Morricones music for Pontecorvos ‘Battle of Algiers ‘ contributed to making it a classic - ‘rue de tebes’ , I remember especially , the music used after a bomb attack , affecting
Mazzy Do you have Wim : Driven by Music ; 3 album set ? My daughter took Photography and Film Studies in college and I got this as a gift for her It was expensive but it is a beautiful collection
I had to come back to make 1 more comment after talking to my daughter about this post He favorite B&W movie The Little Fugitive 1953 Its a movie ; sorta guerrilla film making by photographers ; Raymond Abrashkin , Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin Bout a kid in Coney Island Absolutely magic movie Its another soundtrack i do not have Its on Smithsonian Folkway Eddy Manson on Harmonica Produced by Moses Asch
All excellent picks Huge fan of movies as well as music so to continue this thread here are 5 I would suggest Gojira ( Godzilla ) 1954 Japan Another Jim Jarmusch pick Down By Law : music Tom Waits and John Lurie ; they also star in movie The last picture show I will admit i do not own this soundtrack i have found it hard to find but amazing movie with the great Hank Williams featured heavily Psycho : Bernard Herman. Screeching violins ! Showers were never the same again Would i be cheating by saying Hard Days Night : The Beatles Very honorable mention Mise Eire ( I am Ireland ) Sean O Riada Very important piece in Irish music history and Sean formed Ceoltóirí Chualann Which led chieftains and traditional music renaissance
Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday from 1953. Once you’ve heard the tune in it you won’t stop whistling. I read once that Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood would often phone each other and whistle it.
My only problem with the Third Man Theme is that once you watch the movie it will not stop playing in your head for a looong time. Not necessarily a bad thing…I had no idea Neil Young did the Soundtrack to Dead Man. I’ve never seen the film. Now I kinda have to. Another great video linking music and visual art. As much as I love movies with great cinematography and art direction it’s always the soundtrack that that to some extent tells me how I feel about what I’m seeing… a bad soundtrack can literally ruin an otherwise great movie for me… doesn’t happen that often usually because great directors have a good ear for what they’re trying to achieve. On a side note, I kind of wish more directors worked in black and white.
Dead Man is so good. I kinda wish they they didn't add Johnny's spoken word to parts of the soundtrack. "Down By Law" is another great B&W film and soundtrack. The combination of music and imagery really stuck with me. The deep b&w imagery of Louisiana went perfectly with the John Lurie and Tom Waits tunes.
Pretty sure Robby Muller was the DP on both films And, yeah I was also disappointed that they added dialogue from the film to the soundtrack. I just don’t get the point.
